Modern map displays, particularly those used in aircraft for flight planning and monitoring, are capable of displaying a considerable amount of information such as weather information and terrain information. The weather information consists of airborne weather information from onboard weather radar or weather information received from, for example, ground based or satellite weather sources.
Most modern displays additionally allow an aircraft flight plan to be displayed from two different views, either a lateral view or a vertical view, which can be displayed individually or simultaneously on the same display. The lateral view, generally known as a lateral map display, is basically a top-view of the aircraft flight plan, and may include, for example, a top-view aircraft symbol, waypoint symbols, line segments that interconnect the waypoint symbols, and range rings. The lateral map may also include various map features including, for example, weather information, terrain information, political boundaries, and navigation aids. The terrain information may include situational awareness (SA) terrain, as well as terrain cautions and warnings which, among other things, may indicate where the aircraft may potentially impact terrain.
The vertical view, generally known as a vertical situation display, provides a two-dimensional view of the aircraft flight plan. The vertical situation display may include one or more of the above-mentioned features that are displayed on the lateral map, including the terrain information. With some displays, if the terrain information is displayed in the vertical situation display, it may be displayed below the flight plan and/or in front of the aircraft. Although the present method of displaying terrain data in the vertical situation display is effective, it does suffer certain drawbacks. For example, the two-dimensional display of terrain may not provide sufficient information for tactical, short-term flight planning and/or maneuvering. Moreover, the swath of the flight plan can be either left or right of course, depending on navigational system accuracy. As such, the vertical situation display can erroneously indicate that the flight plan extends through the displayed terrain, if relatively high terrain is positioned to the left or right of the flight plan.
Hence, there is a need for a display system and method that addresses one or more of the above-noted drawbacks. Namely, a display system and method that displays the terrain under the flight plan or under the current track of the aircraft that provides improved tactical flight planning, and/or that does not erroneously show the flight plan passing through the displayed terrain. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.